Rabbi to Speak at Providence College as part of Catholic-Jewish Series

Providence, R.I. – Rabbi Michael Klein-Katz, Scholar-in-Residence at Temple Sinai, will deliver a presentation as part of the Providence College Lecture and Colloquium series, Theological Exchange Between Catholics and Jews on Thursday, November 21, 2013. The event will be held at 6:00 p.m. in Aquinas Lounge, on campus. The lecture is entitled, “A Rabbi, a Priest, and an Imam Walk into a Room: The Victories and Challenges of Interreligious Dialogue.”

Rabbi Klein-Katz will explore the paradoxical relationship among the monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Speaking from his experience as a Jewish rabbi who has worked with both Christians and Muslims, Rabbi Klein-Katz will discuss the inherent challenges in reaching out to what he calls Judaism’s “extended theological family” and the many blessings that he has seen emerge from earnest dialogue, here in the U.S. and in the Middle East.

A native of Philadelphia, Pa., he earned a bachelor’s degree in Religious Studies at Franklin and Marshall College, and received an honorary Doctor of Divinity, Masters in Hebrew Literature, and Rabbinic Ordination from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. After serving Reform congregations and summer camps in America for more than a decade, he currently resides in Jerusalem, where he has devoted himself to interreligious and intercultural dialogue, adult education, medical clowning, religious tourism and raising a family.

Established at the College in the 2009-10 academic year, the Theological Exchange serves as a forum for learning and dialogue between Catholics and Jews. The talks are sponsored by the Department of Theology, the Graduate Program in Theology, and the Center for Catholic and Dominican Studies.

This lecture is free and open to the public. For more information, contact (401) 865-2274.